Chapter Text
He took me home one day and gave me a name. Ungjae.
He told me I was his lucky charm and that I needed to survive. He took care of me and spoke to me about his troubles.
Some times when the sun had already gone down and I was ready for the dormant time of waiting for first light again he would come with a face bright red and crouch down beside me to tell me about him. My namesake, the real Ungjae, the one he actually loved.
He told me of the moment he fell in love. It had been a sunny day and he had been feeling the opposite of the weather. While passing by the flower shop on his usual route he slowed his pace hoping to catch a glimpse of the blooming flowers inside. He hoped such a pretty sight would lift his spirits a bit. But instead he saw a lithe man dressed in the shops apron to cover his street wear and dainty gold rimmed glasses. The glasses seemed to match the gentle roll of his fingertips as they brushed along a beautiful flower he was crouching in front of as he spoke to it.
He told me how the sight stopped him in his tracks and the abrupt slide of his footsteps caused the man to look up and their eyes to meet. His heart felt like it nearly erupted and in response he ran the rest of the way to his house and didn't stop until he was huffing and puffing on the other side of his doorway.
Every night he would enchant me with new stories of the man who made his face glow red and his heart beat faster. And every time I met with the sun again I thanked it for helping me through another day so that I could wait for the night to see that shine in his eyes when he spoke of his other Ungjae.
But it happened one night that he did not come to me. I waited and waited until I could no longer fight off my dormant period. That was my first night without a story.
I woke with the first rays of the sun and waited as patient as a bloom. As the sun began to reach it's highest point the door of my room finally opened. Framed in the doorway was a man stylishly dressed in bright clothing. His gold rimmed glasses glinted on the sunlight that seemed to reach for him from the window to light up his gentle smile.
This was Ungjae, my namesake. Does seeing him here mean I have succeeded in bringing them together? What would become of me now? As I pondered thise questions Ungjae made his way over to me and crouched down to my height on the little table by the sill.
"Thank you for growing so well this week little guy. I was starting to worry our little bet was too hard for Taeho to win and I wouldn't want that." As he speaks he feels around the soil in my pot. Then he grabs a small container of water next to me and pours some in as if he somehow knew just how thirsty I was. He smiles as I let my leaves sway towards the sun. He places the watet container now half full beside me once again on the table and looks over his shoulder at the doorway. He turns back to me and leans in a bit closer as he reached out to stroke one of my blades.
"Between me and you, you're kind of like my lucky charm. I really like Taeho a lot so grow well for me ok? This is our little secret." He says. He turns back to the door to see Taeho leaning on the doorway. The smile on his face as he gazes at Ungjae in the sunlight and the loving light in his eyes affirms my determination to grow and to thrive. If only to bring them the luck they need for the rest of their lives to smile this way together forever.
For them I will keep on growing.